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Displaying items by tag: Bella Donna

#VOYAGE - The Irish Independent reports on the rapturous welcome received by retired Irish fisherman Finbarr Murphy in Iceland as he retraces the route of St Brendan the Navigator.

The West Cork sailor has already travelled on his restored yacht, the 19-metre Bella Donna, via the Orkneys, Norway and the Faroe Islands - crossing the freezing waters of the far north Atlantic to reach Iceland last month.

Since his arrival he's been treated as a celebrity, with regular appearances in the press and on TV and radio, and so has understandably decided to spend the rest of the winter in Iceland before the final leg of his voyage to Greenland early in the new year.

Murphy isn't the first to retrace the voyage of the legendary St Brendan, as last year a crew of sailors, artists, musicians and historians attempted the same on board Paddy Barry's 45ft yacht Ar Seachrán.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, that trip hit a snag along the way in May last year when the boat was refused permission to land on Skellig Michael off the Kerry coast.

Published in Offshore

About Warrenpoint Port

The Original Port of Warrenpoint was constructed in the late 1770s and acted as a lightering port for the much larger Port of Newry.

Following the demise of Newry Port Warrenpoint Harbour Authority was created as a Trust Port by legislation in 1971. The modern Port was completed in 1974 when it covered 28 acres. Since then the port has expanded to its current size of approximately 53 Acres. The Authority has just completed a £22 Million capital infrastructure project (under the terms of a Service of General Economic Interest with the Department for Regional Development) that includes, the construction of a 300 Metres of Deep Water Quay (7.5 Metres C.D), new Ro-Ro berthing facilities, additional lands and covered storage facilities and a new 100 Tonne mobile crane.

  • Warrenpoint Port is the second largest port in Northern Ireland and the fifth-biggest on the island of Ireland.
  • Warrenpoint Harbour Authority was created as a Trust Port by legislation in 1971.
  • In 2018, the value of goods moving through Warrenpoint Port was £6.5 billion. The Port handled 3.56 million tonnes in 2017, increasing to 3.6m in 2018.
  • The port employs 70 staff directly and supports over 1,500 in the local economy.
  • In addition to serving the markets in Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland, the Port deals with imports and exports from countries and regions across the world including to Spain, Italy, Sweden, Belgium, Germany, Ukraine and the Americas.